Shardul Thakur laments loss of wickets in middle-order

One of the positives the Indians can take away from was the performance from Indian pacer Shardul Thakur. After Jonny Bairstow gave Bhuvneshwar Kumar the hammering of his life, it was Thakur who pulled things back with some economical bowling along with the wicket of Bairstow in the powerplay overs as well.

Speaking about the performance, Thakur was of the opinon that the loss of wickets in the middle-order was something that saw the downfall. “I think Shikhar and Virat were going really strong, if they would have continued to bat till 40th over it would have been different total. India would have put up 300 on the board. But I think the wickets we lost in the middle overs made the difference,” said Shardul Thakur in the post-match press conference. 

‘Have done quite well overall’

Despite the loss, Thakur added that he believed that the Indians had indeed done well. Especially, with the World Cup fast approaching, it was critical that the way the Indians performed in England conditions was indeed crucial. He also went on to add that playing one-off games, in the case of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, was something very difficult, to say the least.

“It’s unfortunate we lost the series but if you see overall we have done quite well. Keeping the world  cup in mind which is next year, the batsmen would have learned from t20 and ODI this series, how to bat in English conditions and bowlers how to bowl here in English conditions in limited overs. I think it’s very important that going forward, whichever games we play this year our team would want to execute what we want to do coming here in the world cup,” he said.

“It’s not easy when you are playing one off games. I remember I played my last match in South Africa where he had won that series. It wasn’t a necessary win for us. But playing in this game I was nervous because it was a series decider. When you are put under pressure I think its player’s responsibility to put forward you’re A game. I think I gave my best sometimes results are your way and sometimes they are not but I played this game as a challenge,” he stated. 

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